Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

ok so my store currently has Chromes and GHS Precision Flats. The Chromes are 50-105 and the GHS are 55-105. The GHS strings however are stainless. I'm just trying to figure out which of the two I'd be safer with? Thanks guys

Prowl wrote:ok so my store currently has Chromes and GHS Precision Flats. The Chromes are 50-105 and the GHS are 55-105. The GHS strings however are stainless. I'm just trying to figure out which of the two I'd be safer with? Thanks guys

The Chromes are stainless, too. My personal opinion - I wouldn't go with either set. I would recommend the 40-100 Chromes. http://www.juststrings.com/dad-ecb84.html

I've been using those for about 6 months now and I love them. Plus, they're much more balanced than the two sets you've mentioned. A close to perfectly balanced set, IMO, would be 45, 60, 80, 105. Unfortunately, you'd have to mix and match Chromes to achieve this.

Also, I know that resident stringmeister Cassius recommends Fender 9050L and they're an almost perfectly balanced set. http://www.juststrings.com/fnd-9050l.html

If you're intent on buying one of the sets you mentioned, I would get the Chromes. Although they're not the most well balanced set, they're way better than the GHSs.

I very satisfied with the the D'Addario Chromes ECB84 set .040 - .100 which is balanced well enough for me and more so than most popular sets of any type and brand of strings.

i have tried the fender set mentioned above on a nonric bass, and they were pretty wonderful. i preferred them to chromes,also the ghs are really good,and are also available in a 40-100 gauge,which should be perfect for a ric. and my favorite string maker,DR, makes a flatwound i have never gotten around to trying,so i am not sure of the available gauges .....but they are probably great strings,like most DR'S.....

The Fender 9050L set, and later 9050CL (due in 2011, replacing .100'' E with a .105'' string), is my top choice for flats...

I was incorrect, the GHS strings are 45-105, which is what I normally use in Roundwound

Although I am not technically a bass player I have had the GHS Precsion Flatwound™ (stainless 0.105") on my 4000 for a number of years. I like them and the neck hasn't moved a bit.

I find a bass with older truss rods--that is well-maintained--can be strung up pretty much however you like and the neck won't move.

I hated the Chromes... I've used GHS Precisions (lightest guage possible... check website) and nothing else on all my three 4000' series.

I'm using the GHS also and I'm loving them right now. I would like to get a set of TI's but I'm broke so its not an option. But if anyone feels compelled to buy me a late birthday present/early Christmas present feel free lol

Prowl wrote:ok so my store currently has Chromes and GHS Precision Flats. The Chromes are 50-105 and the GHS are 55-105. The GHS strings however are stainless. I'm just trying to figure out which of the two I'd be safer with? Thanks guys

I use Chromes with the .100 & .080 (E & A( strings and they sound great. I have Rotosound 77 (flats; .105 & .085) on another bass (Fender Jazz) and they sound good as well. The Roto's are higher tension so I don't use them on the Ric.

Cassius turned me on to the new Fender flats. I have been a roundwound guy for the 35+ years I've played bass. I've tried them all, and each time went back to rounds. LowEndLover gave me a 105 of the new formulation so I could have a preview of the new 9050CL set coming out. They have more growl than D'Addario chromes, which to me sound hollow, although it is a "classic" tone they have better articulation than LaBellas; they don't make my hands black or feel as "rubbery" to me as TI's (sorry, my hand perspiration literally eats nickel); they have less tension so you don't need as much truss rod tweaking as with Rotosound monels, and have more character and consistency from string to string than GHS or Ernie Ball flats; they don't go "thin" in tone as you go up the neck; and they have that tru flat-wound vibe that the half-rounds or ground-rounds don't.

The first time I rehearsed with my 9-piece dance band with them, they brought out the vibe so well I could tell the guys sat in the groove together much better as a band, and these are guys who have been playing together for going on 15 years (I'm the new kid on the block, only having been with them a couple of years now). The "feel," overall intonation and tonal characteristics, and the support they gave to the band were just that superior.

Gotta try those Fenders next time - I have used Chromes, TIs and Pyramids and like them all. Maybe I'm just easy to please....